NYC Annual Marathon Cancelled

While power has returned to New York City residents in hard-hit areas like the Lower East Side of Manhattan, many locals are also cheering the cancellation of the city's marathon. On Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Sunday's annual race would not go on because the event seemed to be dividing the city instead of uniting it, reports CNN.

In a Friday evening press conference, Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson elaborated on the cancellation of an event he said is traditionally "one of the very best days in the city, a moment of unity ... and joy." Yet the growing criticism of the race weighed on officials, including the sense that some New Yorkers "found the marathon -- the very idea of it -- to be painful."